Getting shot makes you a gun authority! No, not really.

Getting shot makes you a gun authority! No, not really.

Asserting that someone has authority of firearms issues because they got shot is roughly analogous to claiming that since the grossly obese can’t dodge spoons, they’re experts on nutrition. It’s an asinine argument.
Check it out:

Over at Gun Nuts Media, Caleb Giddings is taking exception to the long-held theory among gun control opponents that being unable to remove oneself from the path of a ballistic projectile somehow makes one an authority on firearms, law, and natural rights.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guts and toughness it must take to overcome being shot in the brain and moving on with your life. However, in her advocacy for more gun control, Mrs. Giffords has placed herself on a pedestal above criticism simply because she was a victim of a mass shooting. This attitude of saintly victims is nothing new to the gun control community – Colin Goddard, a victim of the VA Tech shooting was for a time a leading mouthpiece for the now floundering Brady Campaign.

Mrs. Giffords’ status as a victim is central to her support of gun control. Even when not mentioned directly, which is done frequently, it exists behind everything she says. That subtle pressure that her opinions are beyond reproach because she’s been shot by a mass shooter so she must be knowledgeable, she must be an authority. Because it’s a very emotional argument, we frequently let it slide; because of her protected status as a sainted victim of violence, we don’t call out her argument for what it is: emotion based nonsense.